THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress and UDF which gained tremendously in the elections have to face the uphill task of rising up to the aspirations of the people who had given a landslide mandate to the party and the front.
KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran had recently said it’s a ‘fearsome result,’ clearly hinting at the responsibility the people of the state have vested in the Congress and its affiliates in the UDF.
The Congress knows the votes polled by its candidates were mostly anti-incumbency ones against Pinarayi and Modi. The party leadership feels majority and minority consolidation has taken place in its favour. While the majority voted in protest against the political stand of the Chief Minister on the Sabarimala issue, the minority votes went in favour of Rahul Gandhi, against the Narendra Modi Government and its policies.
Party think tanks were surprised that around 10 lakh votes were removed from the voter's list and that the Left front had meticulously planned electioneering by posting mostly Left-leaning officers for election duty. The non-functioning of the party machinery is the major reason the party leadership found behind such a large number of votes being removed from the list.
The immediate challenge before the front is the local body polls in 2020. The front knows it has to rise up to the level of the present mandate and for that the organisational machinery has to be intact and proper. The Congress leadership knows the performance of the elected party MPs will be a major barometer for the public to vote in its favour in the local body polls as well as the 2021 assembly polls.
Mullappally, who said priority will be given to a total revamp of the organisation from top to booth level, is seeking the support of the AICC president and his team for the same. With the party machinery in place, the Congress knows it can take on the challenge posed by the Left and the NDA in the next local body and assembly polls.
The major contention the party and the front have to face will be the performance of the MPs. The leadership knows with proper organisational machinery in place and the MPs performing according to the wishes of the people, then a repeat of the present success is not a difficult proposition. One can only keep one’s fingers crossed.